I hope everyone had a really great Christmas/Chanukah/holiday season. As well the happiest New Year since January 1, 2008. ;o) Before I began this blog, I checked with the folks at AnnTheGran to be sure you all want me to continue with my ramblings. Since this is the first time for me in this year of 2009, I thought I’d just make it short and do a little review of what we’ve already talked about.

In case some of you are new to LaRueSews, since my last post, I’ll give you a few details that my blog friends already know. My name is LaRue Jones. (LaRue is spelled with a big “R”). I was born in Idaho. I have been watching and learning to quilt since I was a child. I made three quilts before my first daughter was born. Two of them were hand applique’, and the other was a “cheater” quilt top that I machine quilted. I made several more quilts in the coming years (made with a little straight stitch Singer). I made several other quilts in the next few years. One of them was a challenge to my mother-in-law and her sister to prove that you could indeed make a “handmade” quilt on the sewing machine. It was, however, hand quilted. I began quilting in earnest in the 1990's. I have made many. I made each of my daughter’s wedding quilts and one for each of my six grand children, as well as many more for various reasons, mostly just because I love to sew.

It hardly seems possible, but we began this little venture in July 2008. Can that really be six months ago? Since my last post, I haven’t done much piecing or quilting, but I have done a considerable amount of ME. However, I am still a quilter, primarily. I have big plans for a lot of quilt projects in the coming year. Santa brought a new quilt kit that is still in the planning stages. I need to do some other things before I begin that new one. I may use it when I write about fusible applique’.

This time, since I haven't finished any new projects, I'll show you three needlework projects that hang in my house. The first is a small counted cross stitched picture that I did years ago that has quilts in it.

For the most part, our house is finished on the inside, after spending the past two years, working on finishing the interior, including all the painting, my husband did all the inside woodwork, and I made all the window coverings, as well as other decorating. It is nice and comfy now, except that I still need shelves in most of the closets.

This small wall hanging was a thank you gift from a friend. It was the inspiration for me to learn the technique of needle turn applique. It is only 14 inches wide, so the piecing and applique are very small. My husband made the hanger for it.

Now for a little review: I began by telling you that quilting and ME are wonderful companions, making such beautiful and memorable works of art that we are often admired by those around us who are not quite as nimble-fingered as we stitchers. (Hey, I just coined a new description of we who manage needles and threads). We have discussed things to consider before starting to quilt, such as whether you really want to make the investment it takes to try the new venture. As well as choosing quality tools. The topic of fabric choices and selection came along with my warnings about being very careful when using rotary cutters. They are SHARP! They can cut PEOPLE as well as fabric. Handle with care.

Color selection is one of the things that is so important in choosing fabrics. Just as with ME, the choice of colors can make or break a project. Color theory is a deep subject to many people. I recommend checking out a few web sites that I have found and used that are really helpful if color is a Bug-a-Boo for any of you. This first one is really neat. It is a web designer’s site. The name is VisaBone, by Bob Stein. When you go to this web site, you will see a rather unusual color wheel. Play with it just a bit. Use your mouse and click anywhere on the color wheel and it will show you the name of that color. Don’t stop there, go to the bottom of the page and click on Home and see all the cool stuff on their site. It will turn out to be a helpful tool for both quilting and embroidery. http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/

These web sites are just the result of my surfing, looking for the names of colors for lack of a good color comparison chart since my brand of ME thread uses only numbers, no names. I hope they are useful to you too.

I think this will suffice for my return to ATG blogging. I hope you missed me. ;o) If you are new to LaRueSews, check out my previous posts on this blog at:

Next time, I’ll talk about some other facets quilt making. We still need to cover assembling the blocks, layering the quilt, and other topics and methods of quilting and piecing. Sometime in the future, I'll talk about hand applique. This is a wall hanging that has won a number of first place ribbons in quilt shows. I used Ultra Suede to applique on background fabric. All the applique was done in combination with the quilting.

I love reading the blogs. I've never quilted in my life. I now have a new little grandson and I'm itching to do something special for him. I see the wonderful work you have made and I would love to join the quilting club but never thought I would be good enough. So I'm about to take the plunge and give it a go. Thank you for the inspiration. If I can become half as good as the lovely people here I will be happy. Best wishes to you all )

I was surprised when I saw that my blog posted yesterday. I thought it would be next week.

Pat,

I'm glad I was missed. It's always nice to know somebody keeps track of you. I thought I had you a few months ago...I was hoping you'd take up quilting along with everythng else you do. ;o)

I'm glad you liked the color links. I have used them for a while, but just thought to share them this time. It's nice to be able to look at the name of an ME thread and be able to go to that last chart and compare the names.

Fran, for short,

I'm glad you've started quilting. It really is a satisfying thing to do. I hope you stay with it and become a really good one.

Trulady,

Oooo, a new grandson. Quilting is great when you have grand children. There are loads of good patterns for babys. There are some really good easy ones that turn out great. Go to one of my early blogs to see the blue one with the baby lying on it. Don't try one that hard if you are a beginner. I made that quilt over fifteen years ago for my second granddaughter. I had much less experience then, and it was a tough one.but fun.

Don't hesitate to join a quilt club or guild. It's the best place in the world to learn. The ladies are all "just folks" like you and me. They will share and help you. You don't have to be good. You just have to have the desire. Check out my early blogs for some beginner advise.

Marsuz,

Yes, I have returned. I just needed a breather. It's surprising that this blog seems manage all my brain power while I'm writing. Can't imagine being an author. ;o) Keep up the good work on that quilt and let us kknow when it's done.

I'm happy that you are with us, reading LaRueSews. Thank you for your comments. since you are interested in color theory, you may want to check out my earlier blogs for September and October. There was some further discussion of color. I went to a bit more detail. You might also find more to interest you at this google address. There is a bunch of articles, some good, some not so good, but at least you start there. Change words around in a google search and you may find something else

Jan, I hadn't checked my comments in a day or two, so a friend emailed to tell me she saw a comment from AUSTRALIA. How very cool! How you can say you have a friend from Alabama, USA. Keep on, keepin' on with that quilting. You'll go a long way with it, if you keep on practicing. If you havena't read the rest of my blogs, go to the links near the top of the page and begin with the beginning blog. This was the 10th one.

Hey, check out this link to see where you live. I just did it and I still don't know. ;o)